


Jodi's Song

by luxshine, Milosflaca



Category: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: AU, M/M, Other, genderbender
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-04-03
Updated: 2011-04-03
Packaged: 2017-10-17 13:16:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxshine/pseuds/luxshine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milosflaca/pseuds/Milosflaca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris only wants his loved ones to be happy. Unfortunately, that means changing a bit of himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jodi's Song

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to ephemera_pop who did first beta, and to otherdeb who as always stepped up to plate to correct luxshine's eternal struggle with the double "n", and who’s not afraid of milosflaca’s nonexistent grammar.

_I wish Jodi just would go away_

Chris woke up around noon, feeling as if a marching band was playing the ninth symphony in his head. He vaguely remembered he had been mad for some reason the day before, and had gone out to get a drink or twenty.

At least, he hoped it had been the day before. But he was too hung over to check the calendar. It wouldn’t be the first time he missed a day after drinking too much, but he still hated it when it happened.

He staggered towards the bathroom, trying to put his thoughts in order or at least on the same page. While he liked to drink, he very seldom got drunk enough to forget. This time, he was starting to think something really bad had happened because he couldn’t even remember why he had started drinking in the first place.

He let the water run for a moment before splashing his face, looking in the mirror to evaluate the damage.

In the mirror, a girl blinked back at him.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and looked at the mirror again.

The girl was still there. Her hair was a short, messy and wet. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked like if she was about to puke. Chris stick out his tongue, the girl in the mirror did the same. He passed his right hand in front of the mirror, watching the girl do the same.

He noticed his hands were small, delicate, girlish.

“Oh,” he said to his reflection. “You’re back.”

Chris sat on the toilet and started to cry.

* * *

Two weeks later, he was still female, still prone to crying every time he saw his reflection on the mirror, and still had no idea of what had caused the change this time.

The only improvement from his first morning as a girl was that he was sober.

A quick call to his mom had confirmed that his change hadn’t been caused by his family this time, which caused Chris mixed feelings. It was good that his family didn’t need him as a girl, but it didn’t help him narrow down why he had changed. She had asked him if he wanted to go and stay with them for the length of it, but Chris had declined. It wasn’t the first time it happened, and Chris had long ago learned to deal with it. Besides, he had changed in Orlando, which meant that the reason for his change had to be there. Running away wouldn’t help him change back.

Still, the change had taken him by surprise. So he would have probably stayed at home, watching another week pass, dressed in the same pair of old jeans, if it hadn’t been for JC’s phone call.

“Yo, Chris!” JC sounded happy, which usually was a good thing. But Chris was in a terrible mood, missing himself and wishing the whole world would disappear.

“Now’s not a good time, JC,” he half whispered, waiting for JC’s reaction to his voice. It was a bit higher than usual, and Chris didn’t know what he would do if JC realized that something was wrong.

“Why? What’s wrong?” But apparently, JC hadn’t noticed the subtle difference.

In his mind, he could see JC frowning. It was a good thing that JC was in LA, because if he was in Orlando, he would surely offer to come by.

“Nothing really. I’m just…” He shook his head. “I’m just tired. That’s all. What’s up?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you’re planning to fly to Las Vegas alone, or if you’re going to go with Joey.”

Chris closed his eyes. He vaguely remembered that conversation, a couple of days before he changed. Joey had told him that Kelly had said yes. Joey was getting married, even though Chris had sworn that the two of them were the only ones who would remain single. Joey had also mentioned that Lance was organizing a bachelor party for him in Vegas.

Now those plans were shot to hell. Even if he wanted to go, he couldn’t attend. Not unless he went as a stripper.

“I’m not going to Vegas, C,” Chris finally said, sadly. “Something came up.”

“Is everything ok?”

“Yeah. I’m… I just need some time.” Chris hated lying to his friends, but there was no other option. “I’m leaving for a while. I’ll call you guys when I get back, ok? If you need anything, you can call my mom.”

“Sure, but…”

“Bye, C.”

He hung up, making a mental note to apologize to JC as soon as he could see him face to face as a guy.

* * *

When the hiatus began, they had all agreed that they would try to give each other space. They had needed it. By the time the last concert was done there was a lot of tension between them and a break was needed not only for their careers, but for their friendship.

Even so, Joey missed the guys. He had been looking forward to his bachelor party because he knew all of them would be there. Justin, who lately hadn’t the time for even a phonecall, had checked the date three times to be sure he could attend. It was going to be perfect.

Except that Chris never showed up.

He had enjoyed the party. There had been girls, and booze, and three of his best friends in the world. But without Chris, it hadn’t been as much fun. Chris had promised he would be there, but when the hours passed and Chris stilll hadn’t arrived, Joey had started to worry.

Chris didn’t miss parties thrown by his friends. Unless he was mad. Joey couldn’t think of any reason for Chris to be mad at him, the only possible thing had been four months before, at Atlantic City, but that had been forgotten and forgiven. They had talked about it, and Chris had sworn there was nothing to be sorry about.

JC told him that he had called Chris, and that Chris had said that he wouldn’t be able to come. But Joey had thought that was a joke. Chris was going to arrive, late, with some lame excuse, but he was going to be there. When the second day of the party started and there was no sign of Chris, Joey had tried calling him. No one answered at Chris’s house, and his cellphone was disconected.

At that point, Joey started to panic.

When the party was over, he begged off Lance’s invitation to go to L.A. and flew straight to Orlando. He was going to talk with Chris, even if Chris didn’t want to talk to him.

After checking that his house was still standing, since he and Kelly had been living in New York for the last five months, he went straight to Chris’s house, hoping that his friend had gotten out of the ‘I need time’ phase. If he hadn’t, Joey figured he could apologize for whatever he had done to make Chris’ angry and leave, his curiosity sated.

While Lance was his best friend, Chris was his closest friend. Every time Joey needed cheering up, or just being around someone, Chris had been the one to go to. They laughed, they joked, and they got drunk together. When Joey did something that pissed Kelly off, he usually ended up going to Chris’s house, and Chris always helped him to get back in Kelly’s good graces.

Joey pictured himself sixty and still seeing Chris. Joey simply couldn’t imagine life without Chris’s friendship.

The last time he and Chris had talked had been when Joey apologized for what had happened during their trip to Atlantic City. That same night, Joey had told him he had finally asked Kelly to marry him. That had been a month or so before the party, and it had been the last time he had seen Chris.

Now, he wasn’t going to leave Chris’s house until Chris came out and answered the door, even if he had to glue his finger to the doorbell for it to happen.

“For fuck’s sake, I’m coming!” The high pitched yell came after about fifteen minutes, and Joey relaxed.

Chris was there. From Chris’s tone, Joey figured he had probably woken his friend up. Chris was always cranky when he was half-asleep.

“Chris, I…” He trailed off when the door opened.

The person at the door wasn’t Chris.

The person at the door, who looked as shocked as Joey felt, was a girl, about Chris’s height, with short blond dyed hair and brown eyes. She was wearing baggy cargo pants and a black t-shirt with the legend ‘Boybands suck’ tied at her midrift. Joey recognized it as one of the shirts he had given Chris a while back. She wasn’t wearing any make up, and she looked sleepy. In her left ear there were two earrings, but that was all the jewelry. Her hair was half covered with a bandana, pretty much in the same style that Chris had favored back in Europe, when he was still thinking about getting dreadlocks.

Joey’s first thought was ‘She’s cute!’

He didn’t have time for a second thought, as the girl seemed to snap out of her shock and started closing the door in Joey’s face.

He had barely time to react by jamming his arm, and his leg between the door and the frame. He had some practice in the past, mostly thanks to him and Chris joking around in hotels, back in the day. The difference was that, back then, he hadn’t been trying to get into rooms where he really wasn’t welcome. And that he had never felt conscious about the height difference between the two of them, as he was with this strange girl.

“Wait!” He said, trying to get her to open the door without hurting her. There was something about the girl that looked familiar, even though Joey was sure he had never seen her before. “I’m looking for Chris! I’m his friend Joey, Joey Fatone, from *N Sync?”

In hindsight, it had sounded as if he had been bragging. But even if she didn’t recognize him, if she was in Chris’s house, she had surely heard of *N Sync. It seemed to work, because she stopped applying her weight against the door, and gave him a look that was pretty much simple resignation.

“I know who you are,” she told him. Her voice was high and clear, and Joey realized that although her voice sounded a lot like Chris, she had been the one who had called down, not his friend. “What do you want?”

“I came to see Chris,” he said, following her inside the house. She was wearing socks and flipflops, looking pretty much at home. “Who are you? I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere, are you Chris’s friend?”

“He’s not here,” she said without answering his questions, walking into the living room.

Joey noticed a familiar tattoo in her calf. It was a dragon, just like the one Chris had on his leg, the one he had gotten during the No Strings Attached tour. Only the lower part was visible under her trousers, but Joey recognized the design.

“So, you know when is he coming back?” Joey asked, frowning.

“I dunno.” The girl entered the kitchen and opened the fridge. “When he wants, I guess.”

He remembered that, just before getting that tattoo, Chris had left for a couple of days. They were between concerts, and apparently he had had a family emergency of some sort. When he returned, his calf sported a dragon. If Joey remembered correctly, Chris mentioned that his cousin had had a similar one done.

“You’re Jodi, right?” Joey said, focused in the girl’s tight. “Chris’s cousin? I can see the family resemblance.”

The girl turned to see him, beer in hand, obviously surprised. “You know about **me**?”

“Chris talked about you a couple of times, sweetheart.” Joey shrugged. There was something really strange about her, but he couldn’t say what. “He mentioned you guys had gotten matching tattoos once and I noticed your…”

Jodi’s reaction surprised Joey; she hid her tattooed leg behind the other, as if she had been caught doing something wrong. But the guilty expression of her face was quickly replaced by annoyance. “Look, you saw Chris isn’t here. You can leave now.”

“Wait, I can stay, keep you company until he comes back… Where is he, by the way? I haven’t seen him in weeks and…”

“Are you deaf or something? He. Is. Not. Here. Which means, he’s out there. Away. In a place that is not here,” she said, avoiding his eyes. “I’m just taking care of the place.”

“But… he didn’t say where he was going?” Joey’s worry returned, making him feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t like Chris to disappear like that. Also, he couldn’t think anything he had done to make Jodi so defensive.

“What do you care, anyway?” Jodi exploded. “It’s not as if you’re his nanny. He’s a grown man.”

“He’s my friend!” Joey defended himself, surprised. Either the girl was really not a people person, or he had gotten her in a very bad mood. “I just want to know where he is.”

“Well, you could have thought about that four weeks ago!” Jodi yelled, before passing a hand through her hair. Her roots were dark, almost Chris’s shade. “Whatever. I’m late for work, and you can’t stay so… Get out, will you?”

Joey found himself escorted to the main door, with no clear idea of where Chris was.

She left, driving Chris’s car, and it was only after she’d gone that he realized that she had never actually told him that she was Chris’s cousin. She hadn’t said anything about herself at all.

* * *

Chris wasn’t really late for anything, but it had been the only excuse he could think of to get Joey out of the house.

Driving always calmed him down.

It had been a week since he had last spoken to JC. That made three weeks as a woman. The day after JC had called, he had been staring at his reflection, a can of soda in his hand, wondering why the hell he still didn’t have a dick. While he was looking at Jodi, the phone rang again.

He didn’t answer. After JC’s call, he had decided not to answer until he was a man again. It was safer to let the machine pick calls up.

“Chris? Are you home? I’m guessing you’re not since, well...” Howie’s voice sounded hesitant. It had been a while since he and Chris had talked, but Howie somehow always managed to call when Chris needed a friendly ear. “I think I saw Jodi at the supermarket yesterday but she left too quickly for me to talk to her. So, if it’s her, and you see her, or if she’s at your house well, can either of you two call me? See you, then. Oh, and I put Jodi on the VIP list for the Tabu if she’s here, and she wants to go out for free.”

Chris had smiled despite himself. Howie was one of the few friends he had as Jodi. He didn’t know that he and his cousin were the same person, but seemed to genuinely like them both.

Hearing his voice had reminded Chris that he didn’t have to stay at home moping. Being a woman was not the end of the world. Sure, guys annoyed him when they stared at his breasts and tried to pick him up. It was horrible the way some people seemed to think that because he had boobs he was an idiot, but he could leave the house. Since the changes happened, no matter how much he wished they didn’t, he had a whole identity set up for ‘herself’. And Jodi **had** friends.

He washed his face, finished in the bathroom, and went out for a while. As long as he didn’t run into those of his friends who weren’t Jodi’s friends, he could have fun. He had ended up at a local CD warehouse where the clerk had managed to piss him off by staring at his breasts without helping him at all. Chris had practically ripped the poor guy a new one. By the time the manager had come to see what was going on, Chris was halfway into a lecture about the different genres they had at the store and the manager had promptly offered ‘Jodi’ a job. Even after Chris had explained that he could disappear one day with no notice, the man had insisted.

At the end of the day, Chris had a distraction and a good excuse to get out of his house where everything reminded him that the days were passing and he had no idea of why he wasn’t a man again.

He didn’t make any friends in his new job, but that was to be expected. Whenever he changed, he became very anti-social. If he made any friends as a girl, they could get attached. And if they got attached, Chris could get attached, and since that led to more time as a girl, he preferred to be nasty to everyone. As a girl, he was a bitch.

Joey had caught him by surprise.

Chris had never expected any of them to come around without calling first. In fact, he didn’t expect them to come at all since he had told JC he wanted to be alone. Therefore, he had opened the door, standing there like a damned fish when he saw Joey. Joey, who was supposed to be in New York, getting ready to get married.

Joey remembering that he had mentioned a cousin named Jodi had completely thrown Chris off balance. He had only mentioned his female alter-ego once, when he had returned from his second bout as a female since the group’s creation.

It had been his own damn fault, for packing his bag in front of the others. He hadn’t been paying enough attention to what was going on, because he was too happy at being a guy again after two days of womanhood, when Lance fished a bra from his things.

“What’s this? Is there anything you want to tell us, Chris?”

“If you’ve never seen a bra before in your life, infant, I don’t think I can help you.” Yes, his answer had been snippy, but being Jodi did that do him. It always took him a while to regain his usual happy disposition.

“What’s a bra doing in your things? You got lucky?” JC had pressed on, while Lance studied the thing.

“It’s my cousin Jodi’s. I must’ve packed it by mistake.”

And that had been it. But apparently, it had been enough for Joey. Enough for him to remember that Chris had a cousin named Jodi, and that said cousin had gotten the same tattoo.

Chris parked in front of the warehouse and got out, sighing. Hopefully, Joey wouldn’t come around again. Hopefully, tomorrow he would wake up as a guy.

* * *

Joey had always counted on his friends and family to help him work things out. It wasn’t that he couldn’t solve his own problems, but having a friendly ear helped him sort his thoughts out. Saying his worries aloud made it easier for Joey to place them in order.

He waited until he was back in his own house to call Lance. Because of all his friends, the one who always helped him to maintain control of his feelings was Lance.

Joey was honest with himself. His original worry was now becoming panic, since he hadn’t been able to find Chris. Chris’s phone only got him the machine, and Chris’s cell had been giving him the ‘disconnected’ message since Las Vegas.

“I can’t find Chris.” He said, in the very moment when Lance picked up the phone. “He’s not in his house; he’s not answering his cell and I don’t know where he could be.”

“Hi, Joey,” Lance greeted him. Just hearing his voice calmed Joey a little. “You’re in Orlando?”

“Hi. Sorry. Yeah. I decided to drop by, and, well, see if Chris was up for company.”

“And he wasn’t home? Well, he could have gone out for a while, Joey, I don’t…”

“There’s a girl there. She, ah, said that she was taking care of the house.” Joey breathed deeply. “I think she’s his cousin, but… I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean, you’re not sure?” Now Lance sounded worried. Joey could kick himself. “You left a stranger in Chris’s house?”

“She had the keys to the house, Lance. She said she was taking care of it for Chris.”

“You don’t believe her.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, I don’t.”

“Why?”

That was a very good question, Joey mused. Why didn’t he believe Jodi – if she was really Jodi?

“She was hiding something,” he answered, opening his eyes as he remembered the way the girl acted. “She wanted me out of the house, and didn’t answer any of my questions.”

“About Chris?”

“About anything. She didn’t even introduce herself. I assumed she was Jodi, but…”

“Mm.” If Joey knew Lance, he was probably checking his computer for available flights to Orlando. “I’ll call Bev. She might know where Chris is. And I think I can be there tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks, man. I might be overreacting but… when was the last time you spoke to Chris?” Joey sat down, closing his eyes. He wanted Lance to tell him that he and Chris had spent days talking. Or that Chris was there in LA while Joey was in Orlando.

“We saw each other in March, I think,” Lance said, and Joey nodded, even when Lance couldn’t see him. “And we had that phone conference, when you told us that Kelly said yes. By the way, you guys have a date yet?”

“No, not yet,” Joey said, even though his upcoming marriage didn’t seem that important when no-one had seen Chris for a month. “You’ll be the first to know when we do.”

* * *

Next morning found Joey standing in front of Chris’s house again, this time with a take out bag from a small restaurant Chris had taken him to, years before. He had promised Lance he wouldn’t do anything stupid, but he still was worried about leaving Chris’s things with a stranger. This time, he wasn’t leaving without an answer, and hopefully, the girl would be in a better mood.

“What now?”

The girl opened the door at the first ring this time, and didn’t block his entrance to the house.

“You’re not a morning person, are you, sweetie?” Joey asked softly, letting himself in and, handing Jodi the bag. He started taking inventory of the things he could see, trying to be subtle about it.

“Has Chris called?”

“No, he hasn’t,” Jodi frowned, puzzled. It was a cute expression that reminded Joey of Chris. She was holding the bag as if it was going to bite her. “If he does, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him. What’s this?”

“Breakfast. My treat.” Joey sat on the nearby coach, studying the girl. He had always thought it was funny that Chris, who usually could talk for hours about his family, had rarely mentioned Jodi. After that one time, when Lance had found the girl’s bra on Chris’s bag, Jodi’s name hadn’t come up in a conversation again, not even in passing.

Jodi was dressed with long jeans and a very old Queen shirt that Joey remembered seeing Chris wear once or twice on tour. She opened the bag, looking inside.

“Wait. This is my… cousin’s favorite.”

“I know,” Joey smiled at her. Jodi looked genuinely happy. “I thought that you might like it, too, since you have so much in common.”

“Thank you,” Jodi whispered. “This is really nice of you.”

“Well, yeah, I’m like that,” Joey said, starting to feel more comfortable. Then he looked towards the stairs, where he knew the bedroom was. “So, where’s Chris then?”

“I don’t know.” Jodi’s tone changed from warm to positively frosty in a second, and Joey turned to see her, puzzled. She had crunched the take out bag, and set it aside, angriy. There was no trace of her previous smile.

“He wanted to be **alone**. You’re familiar with the word, right? Because he used it a lot the last time we spoke. As in ‘Jodi, I want to be alone’ and ‘I really don’t want anyone intruding on my alone-time’. Things like that. Maybe he really meant that he wanted you to go and find him, but I’m not up on boyband speak.”

“Mm.” Joey looked at her intently. It was a lot earlier than the day before, so he figured she wouldn’t be able to use the job excuse. He doubted she had a job, anyway. “And what if something happens to him?”

“Nothing is going to happen to Chris!” The girl yelled and walked again into the kitchen. “He can take care of himself just fine.”

“What if there’s an emergency?” Joey pressed. He wasn’t moving from the couch until he managed to get something clear about Chris’s whereabouts. “He could have an accident, or…”

“Goddamit, Fatone!” Jodi yelled from the kitchen, and for a second she sounded just like Chris, on the rare occasions when Chris would get mad at Joey. “Nothing’s going to happen, all right? And in the extremely impossible situation that it does, believe me, I’ll **know** , ok? So stop the mother hen act or get the fuck out!”

She came back with a glass of milk in one hand, a glass of orange juice in the other. She handed him the orange juice, before sitting down on the opposite couch. The offering surprised Joey since he hadn’t asked for anything, she sure didn’t sound as if she liked him there, and somehow she had known that he liked OJ in the morning.

“I didn’t put cyanide in it, in case you’re wondering,” she said, unwrapping the bagel he had brought her. “Or anything else.”

“You look pretty at home here.” Joey commented, placing the glass on the nearby table. “How long has Chris been gone?”

“Four weeks. I told you yesterday.” The girl was pointedly not looking at him, which unnerved Joey. He wasn’t used to be ignored by women. “You didn’t need to come today.”

“I thought I could just drop by, see if he’d come back.” As he spoke, Joey studied the girl. “And check on you, to see if you needed anything.”

“My personal space would be nice.” The girl answered, finishing her milk.

It was obvious to Joey that he wasn’t winning a fan, and he let the time pass as Jodi ignored him. After several silent and tense minutes he decided to try and change his approach with her. “Look, it’s nothing personal against you. It’s just that I find it a little hard to believe that Chris would leave a complete stranger to take care of his house and…”

“I’m his cousin. I thought we covered this yesterday, or has all the glitter gone to your brain?” Jodi glared at him, speaking very slowly as if to a small child. When she did that, her voice rose higher. Just like Chris’s when he was making fun of Justin.

“Hey, no need to get defensive!” Joey protested. “Chris barely mentioned you once, so I didn’t…”

“He doesn’t talk about me, because, frankly, I don’t do the family bonding thing and I really don’t like the whole superstar business,” she retorted, with a bored tone of voice. It sounded a little flat in Joey’s ears, as if she had rehearsed the speech.

“Then why are you here?”

“Let’s try this one more time.” The ‘are you that dumb’, tone returned. “Chris needed some ‘alone-time’ and I needed a place to stay, so everyone wins, right? You can call Bev and ask, if you want. She’ll vouch for me.”

“It’s not that I doubt you, honey,” Joey tried again. He didn’t like to see her angry at him for some reason. “It’s just that I’m worried about your cousin.”

* * *

When Lance arrived at Joey’s house, Joey was well past the ‘worry’ stage and knee deep into silent panic. Joey hadn’t managed to get anything new out of Jodi, except for the confirmation that yes, she was Chris’s cousin.

And that she hated him, because every time she opened her mouth it was to deride, insult, and mock him. All at the same time.

The last time Joey had been in a situation that uncomfortable had been on the first day of RENT rehearsals, when it was obvious none of the other actors wanted him there. But all that had been worth it the day the play opened, and Joey was sure that if he just could make Jodi warm up to him, it would be the same.

Now that he thought about it, he could believe that Jodi was related to Chris. Chris was friendly, open to him and the guys, but in all the years since they had met, Joey had never seen Chris ready to make small talk to strangers. Maybe Chris wasn’t as quick to snap as Jodi, but he could see the resemblance. Still, people could see past Chris’s attitude. After an hour in Jodi’s company, he would be surprised to know that anyone outside her immediate family could stand her.

“So, what did Bev say?” He asked Lance, offering him a beer, once Lance had finished unpacking in the guestroom. “Is Chris with them?”

“No, he’s not,” Lance sipped the beer. They were sitting on the lawn, watching the blue sky. “But she said that Jodi is her niece, she loves her as if she was her own daughter and that she’ll take care of Chris’s house.”

“And Bev didn’t tell you where Chris was?” Joey was still hopeful. Truth was, he felt torn between going wherever Chris was and kicking his ass for making him worry, and simply hugging his friend and not letting him out of his sight for the next two years. But to do either, he had to find him first.

“No,” Lance sighed. “She made me feel a little guilty, you know? Because we hadn’t called him before.”

“Jodi did the same,” Joey confessed. “She said that we had no right to be worried about Chris now because we hadn’t been here when Chris decided he needed to go. As if she knew him better than me. Than us. Bitch.”

“I can’t believe you don’t like her. I mean, she’s a girl. You used to have a ‘if you’re willing to wear a skirt, I can date you’ policy, back in the day.”

That took Joey by surprise, mostly because he was thinking about Chris, and the reasons he might have had to simply leave without telling the others where he was going. Leaving specific instructions that they were not to be told where he was.

“Well, she is a bitch,” he answered, truthfully. “Sure, she has nice eyes, and I guess she looks cute when she smiles, but she’s real mean. I can’t believe she’s related to Chris. And I never dated that kind of girl.”

“You dated every kind of girl, Joey. Anyway, you shouldn’t have gone today, man. She might think you don’t trust her.”

“She’d be right. I mean… Chris could’ve asked any of us to take care of the house. Not that… rabid pitbull!”

Lance’s only answer was a lifted eyebrow.

“I mean it, Lance. She was…more than angry that I was there. She was livid,” Joey sighed, lowering his head. “I don’t know. What if she did something to Chris?”

And that was the question that Joey had been trying to avoid, but it had been impossible to ignore.

“She’s his cousin, Joey. I don’t think she’s got him tied up in the basement.”

“Being family doesn’t mean she can’t be a psycho.” Joey muttered in his drink, but let the subject drop.

* * *

They ended up going out that night.

Going out wasn’t as much about going out as it was about trying to get Joey distracted. It wasn’t that Lance wasn’t worried about Chris - four weeks was a little too long to not have any news about him- but if Chris’s own mother wasn’t worried, then why should they?

They ended up at Tabu. It wasn’t that it was the best club in Orlando, but it was familiar ground.

Everyone always thought Lance liked to go out to be seen. The truth was, Lance could have a good time anywhere, being seen in public was just a bonus. This time, however, it was impossible for him to have a good time with Joey, because his best friend was obsessed with the girl who was taking care of Chris’s house.

It was Lance’s personal theory that Joey was getting nervous about marriage. Joey loved Briahna, and there was no doubt in Lance’s mind that he loved Kelly too, but the actual act of marriage? Settling down with just one person to love and respect and forget all about the rest of the world? That was a big deal.

First point of evidence? When Lance had asked about Jodi, he had not only gotten the pit bull remark – which by itself was weird, even in the worst possible scenario Joey never referred to a girl as a bitch or a pit bull, and Jodi had somehow earned both terms in just two days; but a quite detailed description of the girl, from her boyish cut, to her short but shapely legs, to her small breasts – probably A-cup, Joey had added as an afterthought - to her pointed ears. He had even catalogued the fact that she dyed her hair blonde and shared a tattoo with Chris.

While Lance wasn’t opposed to the idea in principle, Joey took looking at girls to a whole new level. Joey was the champion of looking at girls.

Jodi was probably more than a blip on the radar because she hadn’t swooned at his feet as soon as he turned on the Fatone charm. Lance even doubted the girl was as mean as Joey insisted she was. The whole story sounded a lot like if Joey’s wounded pride had teamed up with Joey’s worry for Chris and made a lot of interesting edits to what had actually happened. Lance was pretty sure that Joey had been acting as if he expected to score with Jodi and she had seen right through his act.

“Hey, Lance!” Lance turned at the sound of his name and smiled when he recognized Nick Carter. “What are you doing here?”

“Enjoying life,” Lance greeted Nick, half hugging him. “You alone?”

“Nah. Howie had to come to see some business stuff, and me and Kevin tagged along since Kristen is on location right now, and Paris… well, she’s somewhere,” Nick shrugged, and Lance didn’t pursue the subject. He had his own opinions about Paris Hilton, but he wasn’t going to share them with Nick until Nick asked for them. “Then we called Brian and AJ because we met an old friend of ours here, and seeing her is a cause for celebration since it’s been a while since we’ve been together. You?”

“Joey went to get some drinks.”

“And the rest? Man, I still remember when you five seemed attached at the hip, going everywhere together…”

“Well, JC is writing, last I heard. Justin is in love,” This was as good an explanation as anything for anyone who knew Justin, so Lance didn’t need to say more.

“And Chris is on a trip,” Nick nodded, surprising Lance.

“How do you know?” He asked, as Joey came over with their drinks, followed by Kevin Richardson.

“Jodi told us,” Nick pointed at the farthest corner of the VIP room, where Lance could make out a blonde girl talking animatedly with Howie, AJ’s arms around her shoulders. “Kevin is hiding from her.”

“I am not hiding,” Kevin said, but Lance noticed that he was looking at the group with narrowed eyes.

“You guys know Jodi?” Joey’s eyes were immediately drawn to the group, just in time to see the blonde girl squeal with joy, before hugging and kissing him straight on the lips. “What the…?”

“She’s the only girl who is allowed to do that,” Kevin muttered. He sounded amused at the idea, and Lance raised an eyebrow, curious.

“How did you meet her?” Lance asked, still watching the girl jump excitedly around Howie. He couldn’t see her face, but from the back her body language reminded him of Chris’s. Judging by the guys’s smiles, whatever they were talking about, it was something good.

“By accident,” Kevin said, sharply, but Nick started laughing.

“She called Kevin a pompous ass,” Nick explained to the others, while Joey glared at Howie who was now hugging Jodi. “And proceeded to tear him a new one, what? Four years ago? At a hotel, after one of those concerts we used to do with everyone from Transcon?”

“Pompous ass?” Lance lifted his eyebrow, as they began walking towards the pair.

“Among other things,” Kevin sighed. “I never understood how she got past security, before it was obvious that she and Howie were good friends.”

“You guys would have loved it,” Nick shook his head. “We were getting ready to leave the hotel, see? And this girl comes out from the elevator and walks right into Kevin’s personal space. It wasn’t as if he had that much security with him, but she didn’t even seem nervous or anything. So she comes, and looks at Kevin, and asks with the sweetest voice ever ‘Are you Kevin Richardson, from the Backstreet Boys?’ and Kevin went ‘Yes, miss?’ like, getting ready to sign an autograph or something, and she…”

At this point, Nick had to stop because he was starting to have problems talking and laughing at the same time. “She smiled and said ‘good, I would hate to insult the wrong guy.’ Then she went on about how we weren’t the first boy band in American history. Well, she called us a rip off of the New Kids on the Block, and then she called him a pompous ass for thinking we were so great. And before Kevin could tell one of our guys from security to, I don’t know, get rid of her or something, Howie finally got out of the elevator, and hugged her as if she was his long lost sister or something. It was unreal.”

“She just wanted to see me squirm, it’s one of her hobbies.” Even when Kevin tried to look annoyed, it was obvious to Lance that he was amused. “She likes to get on people’s nerves.”

“He’s just saying that because Jodi’s mad at him right now,” Nick whispered to Lance and Joey, before getting closer to the others. “Hey! Guys! Look who I found!”

Jodi was the first one to turn around, and Lance got a good view of her bright smile before it turned into a scornful frown.

“Fuck, are you stalking me, Fatone?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Behind her, Howie looked a bit surprised, but AJ immediately got closer to Jodi, putting his arm around her shoulders, and glared at them. “Because my boyfriend’s band can kick your band’s ass.”

“Your boyfriend?” Joey asked, getting mad. “You cannot have a boyfriend! No one sane would have you as a girlfriend.”

“I am not her boyfriend, although not for lack of trying, believe me, Fatone.” AJ glared at Joey. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t kick your ass if you don’t apologize to her.”

“I take that you know Joey, Jo?” Howie asked, serious, making her smile.

“Sort of,” she said, shaking her head. Her hair shimmered with glitter. “He’s convinced I chopped my cousin into tiny little pieces and fed him to the dogs.”

“I never said that,” Joey muttered. “I just want to know where he is. And if I had known you were going to be here…”

“You would be at Chris’s house with a locksmith,” Jodi finished, before turning to see Howie and Brian. “I’m going to get our drinks, AJ. Keep my spot warm, will you?”

“Sure thing, Jo,” AJ smiled behind his dark glasses, as she walked away.

“She’s going to get you drinks?” Joey frowned. He knew how hard AJ had worked after rehab. Seeing him walk to a bar with a strange girl was not expected. Seeing him with **Jodi** bothered him.

“She’s getting us water,” AJ said, taking off his dark glasses to glare more effectively at Joey. Lance didn’t know why AJ insisted on wearing those inside the club.

“Jodi doesn’t drink anything stronger than grape juice,” Brian explained to Lance, ignoring the macho glaring contest between Joey and AJ. “She says that Chris drinks more than enough for the both of them.”

Joey shook his head as an answer, but Lance knew his attention was still focused on Jodi’s back. She was wearing black trousers and a long sleeved black shirt that left her back practically naked but covered her shoulders completely. She had glitter all over her back.

“So she’s a good friend of yours?” Lance asked amiably. He guessed that it was better to ask a third party about Jodi, rather than let Joey’s impression color his judgment. So far he had indeed seen that Jodi and Joey were like oil and water, but he still couldn’t figure out why.

“Very good.” Kevin and Nick answered almost at the same time. Nick smiled, letting Kevin continue. “She’s really intense, and tends to disappear for years only sending a couple of postcards once in a while, she travels around more than we do. It’s rare to see her. But she’s been there when things get rough, every time.”

“You guys hadn’t meet Jodi before?” Howie blinked, but he didn’t look very surprised. “Because she is terrible at first impressions. She’s… She’s not good at meeting people.”

“That’s an understatement,” Nick laughed. “Jodi’s like a wasp. You’ve got to be really lucky for her not to sting.”

“But if you give her a chance, she’s really sweet,” Brian finished. “As Kevin said, she might not be around most of the time, and she forgets to call, or even email, but she’s cool.”

“Chris introduced you guys?” Joey’s eyes were still glued to Jodi’s back, but he was still paying attention to Lance and Howie’s conversation. “And how the hell did she get to be your friend? Anyone’s friend? The girl obviously hates the human race!”

“She just gives that impression, and her family situation is… complicated. We met by accident,” Howie smiled at the memories. “I had to give Chris some papers for choir, and Jodi was staying in his dorm. It was an embarrassing first meeting, but eventually she forgave me.”

“She was staying with Chris? The school allowed that?” Joey frowned.

“Not with Chris. **At** Chris’s dorm. He’d gone back home for some emergency,” Howie shook his head. “And look… I know what you do is none of my business. But if you want some friendly advice so she won’t try to bite your head off every time you guys cross paths? Don’t try to dig too much in her past. She likes her privacy, and the only reason why we’re all still friends is because we respect that.”

“She’s our friend,” AJ added, aware that Joey wasn’t really paying attention to them. Then, he said softly so only Lance and Howie heard him. “Tell Joey to back off. Jodi can take care of herself, but if he keeps pushing, he’s going to have to deal with me.”

* * *

It was all Joey’s fault, really. Chris had gone out to Tabu both to try and forget the fact that he was still female after almost four weeks of waiting to change back, and to see if he could find Howie. Howie had become his female alterego’s friend back in college, because he was the only one who didn’t try to hit on ‘her’ or pine after ‘her’, since he wasn’t interested in girls at all. Seeing all the Backstreet Boys together had been an unexpected bonus.

The first time Chris had seen the other group during one of his brief stints as Jodi, he hadn’t been able to resist the temptation to tell Kevin exactly what he thought of them. But thanks to Howie’s influence, Kevin and the others had forgiven him quickly and somehow, without Chris really noticing, they had managed to break down his walls. Maybe it was because only Howie treated him as a friend when he was male, or maybe it was because around them, he didn’t have to worry about slipping up and letting them discover his secret.

After that, Chris had made a point of calling the Boys whenever he changed into a girl. Kevin and Brian didn’t hit on him because they were married, Howie was simply not interested in his girly parts, and Jodi wasn’t either Nick’s or AJ’s type. They treated him as one of the guys. Around them, he could relax, somehow.

Chris had discovered that he could have friends as Jodi after all, the day he woke up in AJ’s couch as a male, after having gone to sleep as a female. Thankfully he had woke up before AJ so he had had the time to write a note apologizing for leaving so suddenly and left the house before anyone could see him, so his secret had remained safe. The fact that AJ and the Boys liked Jodi didn’t gave them power to make Chris change. After that, Chris looked for the Boys every time he changed. Around them, he could relax.

The only reason why he hadn’t called them the very next morning after he had awakened as Jodi this time was because he had hoped it wouldn’t last more than one day. Maybe two.

As a girl Chris never drank; he figured that as a man, he could risk the occasional waking up not knowing who was in the bed next to him, but as a female, it was not worth taking the chance. When AJ had admitted he had a drinking problem, Chris had taken it as a personal mission to help AJ to stay dry whenever he was Jodi. That had made them closer as friends.

But then Joey had appeared, ruining Chris’s night. While Chris missed Joey, Lance… the whole group, with all his heart, he didn’t want them to see him as a girl.

Howie and the Boys couldn’t recognize him inside Jodi’s body because they didn’t know him that well as a guy. Lance, Joey, Justin and JC were almost his brothers. Chris had lived for years in fear that they would see Jodi, and discover his secret at first sight. It was ironic, in a bittersweet kind of way that he had managed to go five years living on top of the others without them having seen him as a girl even once and now that he was supposed to have more freedom, all of this happened. It wasn’t fair.

It was even worse that Joey had started flirting with him. He kept doing that, as if he could get somewhere if Chris just said yes. But Joey was going to get married. Why the hell did the jerk keep hitting on him?

The worst part was that, now that he had had some time to think about it, he didn’t know what had him angrier. The fact that they were around him, pressuring him to tell them where ‘Chris’ was, or the fact that they didn’t recognize him at all. Or maybe it was the constant flirting. If Joey called him ‘sweetie’ one more time, Chris was going to punch his lights out.

“Jodi! We need some help here!”

Chris groaned, putting down the inventory sheet he had been checking, and refrained from banging his head against the counter. He wasn’t in a good mood that morning, and almost all his co-workers at the CD warehouse had gotten the hint, leaving him alone and not bothering with stupid things like ‘What did the Ramones play, again?’.

“What?” He half growled at Mark, the poor guy who had been the reason why ‘Jodi’ had a job in the first place. He had a crumpled piece of paper in his hands. “Mark, I have to do the inventory, all right? You know I don’t help clients.”

“Sorry, Jo… It’s ah… just…” Chris sighed. It pained him that Mark was so afraid of him. He had already promised to himself that as soon as he was back to being a male, he would find a way to make it up to the poor guy. “There’s this client, who brought a list… And I don’t know, like… any of the groups he’s asking for. The boss told me to ask you.”

“Give me that.” Chris grabbed the list and had to bit back a smile. While they had seen their share of weird stationary when reading fanmail, Chris so far had never seen someone write on music paper. That was a new one.

Obviously, the client was a weird man, since the groups on the list ranged from the really good to the ‘I can’t believe these guys managed to get a contract’ category, and from the ‘everyone and their grandmother knows of this guy’ to the ‘I don’t believe someone else has heard of this’. Unfortunately, Chris mused, they didn’t have them all in stock.

He picked up everything they had for the guy, fully aware that in the end he would only have to put them back when the client decided only to take one or two, and walked towards the cash desk, not even bothering to look up from the list.

One thing experience had taught him was that eye contact was usually taken as an invitation to make small talk and he didn’t want to talk to anyone today. It was much better to make things quick and painless to all involved.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have anything by Muse, Jamiroquai or Imogen Heap Well, really, I’m not sorry. If you like Muse, you have to know that Jamiroquai is crap, unless someone else recommended it to you, and if that’s the case? I would tell them to take a hike and learn something about music, fast. If you need to hear him because it’s a case of life and death, do yourself a favor and download Cosmic Girl and Angry Angel, those are the least crappy of his songs, then shoot whoever told you they were good, and I mean it. They really must hate you. About Imogen Heap, I could see if we have it in another store, and get back to you in a week or so, but if you’re just interested in that type of music, I recommend Snow Patrol and maybe Keane. Oh, I’ve heard good things about National Product, they’re not the same style but they’re good, so you could give them a try. So, what do you want?”

“Your phone number?” What made Chris drop the CDs in a clatter to the floor wasn’t that he recognized the client’s voice. He had heard that voice in so many different tones that really, nothing that came out of **that** mouth could shock him. What made him drop the cases was the fact that never in his whole life had he imagined he would find himself the focus of JC’s flirting tone.

“JC…” he whispered, before he could catch himself, and JC started to laugh, as he helped him pick up the fallen cds. Thankfully, they seemed all right.

“A girl with such cool taste in music knows me?” JC shook his head. “I don’t know if I’m flattered or sad. It could hurt your street cred, you know?”

“I’d need to live under a rock, on Pluto, not to know who you guys are.” Chris managed to joke.

“Oh, I don’t know…” JC shook his head. “It’s been a while for all of us. Unless you’re a secret Justin fan, which would break my heart.”

“Timberlake is a little young for my taste.” Chris stood up. He had to cut the conversation short, or he was going to blurt something he shouldn’t to his friend. “So… what is going to be?”

“I have killed all my chances for your number, right?”

Later on, Chris would ask himself what had possessed him to actually write his phone number on JC’s list. He could tell himself that it had been to see how long it took JC to realize that the warehouse girl had given him Chris’s home number. He was sure that JC wouldn’t call, because JC had a weird policy regarding dating relatives of his former band mates, and Joey was sure to have spread the word about Jodi by now.

What he would never admit, not even to himself, was that JC’s persistence worked a lot better than he and the other guys gave JC credit for.

* * *

JC was humming as he parked his car outside Joey’s house. While he hadn’t actually planned to go to Orlando that month, it was a nice place to be. Maybe Chris had come back from wherever he had gone and they could start talking seriously about the new album.

Always assuming they could get five minutes of Justin-time. Justin-time was pretty much occupied by Cameron these days, so it was entirely possible that they wouldn’t see Justin until after the _Shrek 3_ premiere, or Joey’s wedding, whatever happened first.

When Lance called him to inform him that there was a ‘situation’ in Orlando, JC had heard the quotes quite clearly in Lance’s voice. Joey had called half an hour or so later, quite frantic, swearing that the situation was a life or death emergency and that JC had to be there NOW.

It was funny how all caps were as easily heard in loud voices as air quotes were. JC wondered if the same was true for emoticons. How would you pronounce “ : - )”?

He felt inspired that day. There was a song on the tip of his tongue, he just needed to figure out the words. Maybe it was a song about that girl at the CD warehouse, who looked familiar even if JC couldn’t place where from. There was something about her brown eyes that nagged at the edges of JC’s mind, and he was sure he had seen the tattoo she had on her left shoulder somewhere. He figured he could call her as soon as whatever emergency the other guys had was dealt with and ask her out, and about the tattoo, at the same time. It was a cool design, even though JC would never go near a tattoo parlor.

He hadn’t even had time to remove the ignition keys, when Joey opened the passenger door, got in the seat and put on the seatbelt.

“Get the car started,” he said to JC, without pause. “She doesn’t know it, so she won’t pretend she’s not at home if she sees it in the driveway.”

“And hi to you too, Joey,” JC said, as Lance got in the back seat. “Lance, what’s going on? Who is she?”

“Joey’s nemesis, apparently,” Lance shook his head. “Well, no, really. Actually, it’s just a girl who hasn’t fallen for the old Fatone charm.”

“Oh, so… That’s the emergency?” JC frowned, turning on the engine. There was no way he was going to let Joey or Lance behind the wheel. Even if they were better drivers than he was, it was his car. “Wait. I thought you had stopped trying to get girls, Joey. Aren’t you getting married?”

“Yes, yes and yes, JC. Lance is just being an idiot,” Joey didn’t sound happy at all, which puzzled JC. Joey was usually the first one to admit that his reputation with girls had been well-deserved, joking with them about it without getting annoyed at the constant teasing. “Just drive to Chris’s house. We’ll explain on the way.”

“Chris is back from his trip?” He asked casually, turning on the car. “I guess he forgot he promised to call.”

“You didn’t mention that he told you he was going to call when he came back,” Lance said. Joey was already drumming his fingers against the board, impatience showing. “Did he sound… normal?”

“Normal for Chris, yeah,” JC drove away from Joey’s house and into the street.

“He’s not back,” Joey turned around to see Lance, “See? A month. That’s the last time any of us heard anything from Chris! How do we know he is fine?”

“Have you asked Justin too?” JC frowned a little. He had to admit that it **was** weird for Chris to go so long without contacting any of them. Maybe there really was an emergency. Or maybe Chris was at Justin’s. Justin could easily forget to tell them if Chris was visiting him.

That worked too.

“No, I didn’t want to worry him,” Joey admitted too quickly, which told JC that Joey had forgotten to call J. Which was perfectly fine. JC sometimes forgot to call them with important news too. That happened a lot now. Maybe the distance between them all had grown too big. “But we probably should, you’re right.”

“I think that can wait until JC sees your girl.” Lance’s tone left no room for argument, and JC kept driving, in silence, thinking about emoticons and the girl at the warehouse. Joey looked far too tense for conversation anyway.

The drive to Chris’s house was short, and soon JC was parking outside the driveway. Before he could bring the car to a full stop, Joey was already getting out.

“He really likes this girl, doesn’t he?” JC asked Lance, while Joey walked quickly towards the main door.

“’Like’ is not the word I’d use,” Lance answered, getting out of the car. “And now that he’s not listening, I’ll be truthful with you. I might not be getting as overworked as Joey, but I’m worried about Chris too. It isn’t like him to disappear like this.”

“He said he needed some time for himself,” JC shrugged. Four months sounded like a lot, but time passed quickly. He felt as if he had talked to Chris just yesterday. “So… if Chris isn’t home, why are we here? I thought we were going to look for this Joey-immune girl.”

“Jodi is Chris’s cousin and is taking care of his house while he’s away,” Lance explained. “She hasn’t taken kindly to Joey coming by every day this week.”

“All week?” JC asked at the same time the door opened.

“You don’t know the meaning of letting it go, do you, Fatone?”

At the feminine voice, JC looked up and smiled, amused. Obviously, he was not going to have any luck scoring with the girl from the CD warehouse.

“Hey! It’s **you**!” JC smiled, amazed. “No wonder you looked so familiar!”


End file.
